Results show Holmes, Powers, Hanley for City Council

Ben Furtado/Auburn JournalCouncilman Mike Holmes, right, and his brother Jim Holmes express their excitement while watching online City Council poll results at The Power Club during Election Night Tuesday. As of 11:30 p.m. Mike Holmes carried the City Council lead with 2,670 votes, with all precincts reporting.

Ben Furtado/Auburn JournalAuburn City Mayor Bridget Powers checks her election results for City Council at placerelections.com with Cynthia Haynes, back, and other supporters at Auburn Bike Works Tuesday night.

As of 11:30 p.m. Councilman Mike Holmes was leading the Auburn City Council race with 23.53 percent of the vote. Mayor Bridget Powers and Councilman Kevin Hanley followed with 21.36 percent and 21.16 percent of the vote respectively.
There were six candidates running for three seats on the council, including three incumbents. They are Hanley, Holmes, City Clerk Joe Labrie, Powers, Planning Commissioner Bob Snyder and Taxpayer Advocate Dan Sokol.
As of 11:30 p.m., the Placer County Office of Elections website was reporting that Mike Holmes lead the race with 2,670 votes. Powers had 2,423 votes, Hanley had 2,401, Snyder had 1,478, Sokol had 1,440 and Labrie had 895. All 17 precincts had reported at this time.
Holmes said he was satisfied with the outcome of the race.
“I’m very happy that my supporters came out to vote for me, and I’m very hopeful that the Auburn Journal will support me in moving forward in making Auburn a better place to live and work,” Holmes said.
Holmes said he felt confident about the next City Council term.
“I congratulate Bridget Powers and Kevin Hanley on the fine campaign that they ran, and I think we have a good team on board,” he said. “It looks like the voters returned the incumbents to the City Council, and we have a good team that continues to work toward the betterment of Auburn.”
Powers said she was elated by the results Tuesday night.
“I feel fantastic,” Powers said. “I’m thrilled. I’m looking forward to serving four more years.”
Hanley said Tuesday night he felt good about the continuing City Council team.
“I’m honored by the vote of Auburn residents,” Hanley said. “We have a good working relationship … and I look forward to making further progress on a range of issues. It’s been a great race, very informative, and I’ve really enjoyed meeting a lot of the residents.”
Snyder said Tuesday night he doesn’t have any regrets about his City Council campaign.
“I think we had good candidates, and we have got good council people,” Snyder said. “I’m pleased. They ran a good campaign, worked hard and they deserve to win. I’m pleased I got a chance to run.”
Dan Sokol said Tuesday night he was not surprised by the results.
“It’s about what I expected,” Sokol said. “Although, I had expected Bob would come out ahead of Kevin. It just shows people have voted the way they felt. (The early results are) pretty indicative from what I have seen in the past. The early precincts are pretty indicative of what happens.”
When reached earlier Tuesday night Labrie said he wanted to wait to comment on the race, but then could not be reached late Tuesday.
Residents spoke out Tuesday afternoon about who they hoped would represent them on the Auburn City Council.
Chuck Anderson said he voted for Snyder, Powers and Hanley, because he feels confident about their skills.
“I just know they have done a good job in the community,” Anderson said.
Anderson said he was happy with the number of candidates running for the seats.
“I think that is healthy,” he said.
Carol Bucy said she voted for Hanley, Powers and Holmes.
“(I voted for them) just because of what I have been listening to and reading,” Bucy said.
Sylvia Haverberg said she voted for Holmes and Sokol, but couldn’t remember at the time of the Journal interview who her third choice was.
“I love the Holmes boys, both Mike and Jim,” Haverberg said. “I just think (they) are clear thinking. I think (Sokol) is going to keep an eye on the money and say, ‘No, no, no, we can’t do this.’”
Haverberg said she has gotten tired of all the negative campaigning at the state level, but hasn’t noticed any mudslinging among City Council candidates.
“These people work with each other in business and in a small town,” she said. “They can’t afford to be nasty and cutthroat.”
George Coe said he thought there were four good candidates running for the council seats including Hanley, Powers, Holmes and Snyder, but he declined to comment which three he voted for.
“They are all good people,” Coe said. “It is too bad there weren’t four slots open. It is nice to have a choice. On so many other things we didn’t have a choice. We are lucky to have all four.”
Voter turnout in Placer County could hit 75 percent, according to Jim McCauley, county clerk-recorder-registrar of voters, who said the county generally sees turnout at 15 to 20 percent higher than the state’s.
The county is also ahead of the curve when it comes to vote by mail ballots, which McCauley said comprised 68 percent to 72 percent of total votes.
But he’s still going after the non-voting portion of the county.
“It’s amazing that I mail your ballot to you and you still won’t vote,’” McCauley said.
Reach Bridget Jones at bridgetj@goldcountrymedia.com